Blazing new policy

After 16 years of inane and inhumane federal policies on medical marijuana, the Obama administration has brought sanity and humanity with the Justice Department’s decision to butt out of states that allow sick people to use the drug.

Under the policy spelled out in a three-page legal memo, federal prosecutors were told it is not a good use of their time to arrest users or providers of medical marijuana who do so legally. The memo advises prosecutors they “should not focus federal resources in your states on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”

Packets of marijuana buds are shown for sale at the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Clinic. l AP Photo/Eric Risberg

The policy is a welcome departure from those issued under President Clinton and President Bush, both of whom went after sick people, the doctors that prescribed them marijuana and the dispensaries where it was sold in states where medical use of the drug was authorized.

Scientific evidence supports the fact that marijuana has medical benefits for chronic-pain syndromes, cancer pain, multiple sclerosis, AIDS wasting syndrome and the nausea that accompanies chemotherapy.
There are 14 states that allow medical marijuana use. Florida should consider joining that list.

Federal prosecutors should welcome this historic policy change. It gives them more time to spend on far more serious offenses than pot smoking, such as corruption, mortgage fraud, and hate crimes to name a few. The change also will bring relief from unnecessary suffering to many Americans.

Do you agree with the Obama administration’s decision to stop going after people who use and sell medical marijuana in states that allow it?